Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk ALTurkey Talk -- Beards and Spurs Decline of the Wild Turkey

I'll start off by saying there are some areas that turkey numbers are doing well or at least holding their own. However, many places especially in the SE are struggling. What are some of the reasons?
1. Baiting Program - Ever since the legalization of bait for deer, many hunters continue to keep the feeders full during the spring. (Corn, Scratch, Milo, Wheat, Crickets?) People who do not turkey hunt but a couple of times per season routinely kill one over a bait pile on Opening Day. Notice the same people busting one and displaying it all over Facebook on every opening weekend. After shooting into a flock over bait, those same hunters scratch the rest of the season because the odds go back into the turkey's favor.
2. I find it hard to believe a wild turkey can withstand the hunting pressure that Covid has produced. Not to mention, YouTube, Hunting Industry (They have tried to make it like deer hunting - it's not and never will be) Outdoor television Programs, etc.
3. Habitat Loss in my area due to tornado damage and timber harvests.
4. Wild Hogs/ Predators
5. Bad Hatches

What other issues are we dealing with?

Wouldnt it be safe to say that 95% of turkeys die from some type of predation?

Just saw a video if a bald eagle swooping in to try to get a lay down decoy. Gobbler came in to protect hen/decoy 😀

Cool video

this is admittedly 100% anecdotal, but I feel like I see noticeably more "turkey hunters" than just 6-8 years ago

I think cell cameras have a lot to do with it. Back when I started turkey hunting you had to be in the woods to know if you had turkeys. If you had turkeys then you had to be in the woods if you wanted to figure out what they were doing. Now folks can sit in the comforts of a couch and do all that with a little milo and a bunch of cell cameras. Can even tell you when a gobbler is showing up in a certain spot everyday. I think Ray Charles could kill a limit with the info cell cameras give hunters today.

Predators, poachers, nest predators, loss of habitat.

Turkey numbers are higher than ever in many places. "Decline of the Wild Turkey?"

Trap and burn, you will have turkeys.

100% in agreement with this...

I always felt like using a cell camera was cheating. It's kind of like kissing a first cousin at a family reunion. It's a nice gesture, but really should you be getting much satisfaction from that?

I agree with y’all. Get rid of decoys and cameras

I don’t think the population is declining though. Killed just as many around here as we always do and left plenty for seed

Shouldn’t be able to shoot jakes imo

I think the state should do a study where they send the biology students out into our hay fields before we start cutting hay to mark nests. I think that would save a good bit

I've seen and heard more turkeys this year than I have in a long time. All the places that used to have turkeys that I have been around still have em.

When I was kid first starting out you had to order calls from a mail order catalog and you never saw any other turkey hunters. I saw one coming out of the woods one time in Montgomery Co and was shocked. Now you stop at a gas station in March or April before dawn and there 12 guys in there decked out in camo.

Look in the lands and leases section or on the many Facebook pages for hunting club memberships. "No Turkey Rights" is the #1 tag line. People have now figured out they can find a piece of land and gather up a half dozen suckers to hunt pine goats and pay for them a piece of turkey hunting property.

Just leaving Mo. last week and we saw 2 eggs busted in a thick field, looked like crows had done it. Hunting back here in Ms.yesterday and had a huge coyote come running to my caller, he got a face full of Apex.

If hunters are shooting gobblers only, within the framework of a “normal spring season” - then more hunting pressure sucks for us hunters that have been hunting forever - but they aren’t affecting a hen’s ability to do what she does, and raise poults.

There’s something else - so figure out that something else.

I'll never understand why hunters don't seem to get this.

Agreed. Pressure really sucks from an “enjoyment” standpoint. And maybe even from a standpoint of how many birds are alive to hear gobbling. But it has no affect on the future population.

I really think it’s a few things:
1. Crappy habitat
2. Normal population swings after restocking.
3. Weather trends related to nest/poult success
4. An abundance of nest predators
5. Possibly some disease, maybe related to feeding, herbicides, or natural causes.

Saw a guy yesterday, was talking talking about his turkey season so far and how it was tough and been so manny times ands seen a few birds. Didn’t buy it by his story. Looked in his truck bed walking to mine and there were decoys and two bags corn chops. That told me all I needs to know. Damn gives the honest folks a bad reputation